Best Practice #1: Defining a Clear Goal

Let’s start with tip #1: defining a clear goal of your email. Why are you sending this email?

It’s awfully hard to write a great email if you don’t have a clear idea why it’s being sent.

Admittedly, it can be hard to pick an appropriate goal. Let’s do an exercise to make sure you are feeling comfortable with the process.

Consider this question: Which of these is an appropriate goal for an email?

You can definitely cross “stay top-of-mind” off your list of potential answers. Nobody ever got promoted for the way they stayed on top of everyone’s mind last quarter. How would you measure it? How would you really know? You want to stay away from goals that are not actionable or quantifiable.

“Promote your company” can go too. Why? Because it fails the golden rule of email. Remember, emails should add value, not ask for it. Would you be excited and carve out time to read an email about how awesome another company was with no clear benefit to you, the reader?

Increasing your click rate won’t work as a goal, either. It’s an empty metric. Who’s to say that people didn’t click on the email, only to bounce right off the landing page?You should care about conversions, leads—actionable things that drive value for your business.

This leaves us with “get people to register for a webinar.” This is an example of a great starting goal for an email. It’s a clear, actionable goal that you can quantify. Plus, you’re either creating new leads or further qualifying existing opportunities.

Option D goes beyond clicks and opens—you need to consider what action you want your recipient to take. You want to get really specific here. Something like “stay top of mind” won’t cut it.